Medical device suitable for location in a body lumen
AssigneeVeryan Medical Limited
InventorsKevin Heraty, Liam Mullins, Paul Gilson, Martin Burke
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stent (1) for deployment in a blood vessel which is movable between an unloaded straight cylindrical state and a loaded curved state. The stent (1) is bendable between a first loaded configuration when the blood vessel is in the unloaded state, and a second loaded configuration when the blood vessel is in the loaded state. The stent (1) has an unloaded configuration which is intermediate the first loaded configuration and the second loaded configuration. Because of the unloaded configuration of the stent (1), the degrees of deformation which the stent (1) undergoes are minimized leading to minimized strains, increased fatigue life, and reduced risk of fracture.
Claims15
A method of stenting a body lumen comprising:
- deploying a stent in a body lumen;
- expanding the stent to a fully expanded deployed configuration in the body lumen such that the stent is ready for use, wherein in this fully expanded deployed configuration the stent can have a first loaded configuration, a second loaded configuration and an unloaded configuration intermediate the first and second loaded configurations, the unloaded configuration being one in which at least part of the longitudinal axis of the stent is curved to a first curved state;
- and
- after the step of expanding the stent to the fully expanded deployed configuration, carrying out the following subsequent steps:
- deforming the stent to the first loaded configuration when the body lumen bends to an unloaded state thereof;
- and
- deforming the stent from the first loaded configuration through the unloaded configuration to the second loaded configuration when the body lumen bends to a loaded state thereof which is more curved than said unloaded state of the body lumen;
- wherein the first loaded configuration of the stent is one in which the at least part of the longitudinal axis of the stent is less curved than in the first curved state of the unloaded configuration of the stent;
- and
- wherein the second loaded configuration of the stent is one in which the at least part of the longitudinal axis of the stent is more curved than in the first curved state of the unloaded configuration of the stent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.